Matt Bridle
Silence reached my ears as I sat down the box full of my old photo albums. The house was quite bare, considering that my family and I were moving in. We had just moved to a small town in Oregon. It was surrounded by trees for the most part, having a railway that went straight through the middle of the town. The railway was, in fact, still operating as freight trains, and cargo trains, ran through the middle of town three to four times a day. During night though, that was a different story. The people who ran the railways seemed to be insomniacs, as I hear the trains run all night long, only having fifteen minute intervals between trains. My father had bought the house that was a block from the railway, so it wasn’t too noisy. My dad had decided that it would be safer to take this house, since it wasn’t too close to where the crime happened in the city. All of the crime went on downtown, in a small shop called, "China’s Hutch"; it was a fine china place that sold illegal drugs out of the back. I shivered a bit, knowing I would have to walk by it almost every day to get to school and back. A bit of dust caught me by surprise, as I breathed in its musty sent. I coughed, walking towards the window, opening it as I leaned my head out. After I finished having my little coughing fit, I looked around, spotting the railway. My room had the perfect view of it, and I wasn’t close to it either. There was a bit of solace, knowing I would be far enough away from the tracks to not have a train run into the house in the middle of the night. I left the window open after that, straying around my room cleaning things ups, as I was putting all of my stuff in. I was happy to be in this new house, in a new city, in a new state, even. Things at my old school didn’t go too well, most people stayed away from me. Hopefully, I could have a new start here. Four hours after I cleaned my room, and had gotten everything neatly put away, my family sat down for dinner, and that was the first time that I noticed that something was off. It had been around the middle of the meal, when everyone was almost done, and dessert was just being put on the table. “So how do you like your room, Sarah?” My father gestured to me, then to the stairs, “It’s fine. I got my all of my things away, it all fit. Why, was there supposed to be something wrong with it?” I responded questioningly. “Oh, no, there wasn’t supposed to be anything wrong with it, I was just wondering how you liked the new place.” “I could get used to it.” A door down the hallway burst open, as my family and I perked up. “I’ll go see what it is.” My father said, getting up out of the oak chair, and walking towards the door. He looked around for a few seconds, and then went inside. Suddenly, with no warning, we heard him yell and everyone got up, running towards the door. We looked inside carefully, our hearts pounding with each breath we took. Looking around, we found no one inside. “Boo!” We all jumped back as my father jumped out from behind the door. “That’s not funny! Please don’t do that again, Harold.” My mother scolded him, as if he were a child, as my little brother and I just went back to the table. We sat in silence for the rest of the meal, my mother and father arguing in the background. Sunlight hit my eyes the next day as I woke up, looking around with hazy vision. The first thing I noticed was my mirror was on the wall opposite of it's original position. "That’s strange..." I mused. I was sure that I had it on the other wall, but I brushed it off as a misplacement and proceeded to throw some random pieces of clothing on myself. School would start this morning, seeing as how dad had taken care of my registration online last night. I was very excited to start my Senior year of high school today, brushing out my long, rust colored hair. I set down my brush, looking at myself in the mirror. My green eyes looked like emeralds. Hopefully this school would be different than the last. Hopefully, I could be the popular girl, or the girl that everyone liked in a sense, or the girl that no one even noticed. I thought it over for a moment. The girl that no one even noticed. It seemed like a great title to me. If I were invisible, then I would have nothing to worry about! I picked up an apple, gliding out the front door, backpack in hand. Today was going to be my day. My day went smoothly. Well, as smoothly for a new girl as it could go. People asked me questions, talked to me a bit. Most of all, they were friendly. Everyone seemed to be on eachother's side. No one tried to insult me, no one tried to start a fight. This was definitely the school I wanted to go to for the rest of my years. The whole entire place seemed to have a positive attitude; somehow it seemed a bit off to me though. I didn’t want to admit it, but deep down inside, I knew something was wrong, something seemed weird about the place. Everyone was a bit too happy, which seemed to make my little brother uncomfortable. Walking home with him was always a blast. He would tell me everything about his day, and about all of his bullies, but today was not one of those days. “I feel uncomfortable around the other students. They scare me with how happy they are all the time, it’s like they don’t know what sadness is.” His voice was bland, a little fear hinted in it. “They seemed fine to me. It's better to be happy than to be sad.” I stated as we rounded a corner, walking towards the crosswalk. My brother ran out in front of me dashing towards the crosswalk, and out into the road. I heard a horn, and the screeching of tires, looking across I saw my brother, and a car speeding towards him. I knew it was the end for him; I was going to see his guts all over the place soon, along with his blood, splattered all over the white Kia. I cried out, trying to run after him, but someone was holding me back! I was about ready to faint when I saw something from the corner of my eye. My brother was tackled to the ground by a tall, figure, with what looked like rusty brown hair, and a red plaid shirt. The car went about five feet past where my brother had been, and then stopped. I could hear frantic people, someone on the phone with nine-one-one, another trying to calm me down, as I was in tears at this point, my vision blurry, as I took note of how close that was. Realization then took over, he was okay, and I was just light headed by the adrenaline rush. The ambulance arrived, looking over my brother, as I was sitting on the old, worn down curb of the sidewalk. “That was close, huh?” I looked up to see the man- no, wait. He looked like he was about eighteen to nineteen, getting ready to sit down beside me. I recognized him instantly, the rusty brown hair, and the red, plaid shirt. It was him! The one who saved my brother! “Are you the one who saved my brother?” I asked him, smiling gently at him. “Yes, I am. Oh by the way, before I forget, I’m Matt! And, you are?” He held out his hand, gesturing for me to shake it. “Oh, I’m Sarah!” I quickly took his hand, shaking it as I introduced myself. As the evening went on, my brother and I were rushed to the hospital, Matt refusing to leave my brother and I while we were rushed to the hospital. I didn’t know exactly why they wanted me at the hospital, but for what I was told, they wanted to ‘check my mental health, to make sure I was alright from what about happened’, though I wasn’t really in need of any help. My parents and I sat at the table, not saying anything after that. We hadn’t talked all night, only at the hospital when we had been questioned by dad. My mother was probably the one who had the worst emotional damage. She had sat up in her room, crying for three hours, father hadn’t even bothered to check on her, saying that she needed to ‘cry it out’. I've never seen her so upset before. With no words said, we all went to bed. Well, at least tried to get to bed. With all the thoughts of what could’ve happened still racing around in my head like I was part of some sort of race track, it was hard. With a little effort, though, I eventually drifted off into sleep. Something made a huge sound up above me the next morning. My vision was hazy, as I tried to get up, ending up tripping and falling over in the process. It was the start of the weekend, and my brother, mother, and father was going to a psychiatrist today. I refused to go, saying that I was perfectly fine, although in reality I wasn’t. What had made my brother do that yesterday? He refused to speak to me, even after the incident was over. I found it strange; he always talked to me, even when he was scared to death, or had done something wrong. Another bump in the attic made me jump out of my previous thoughts as I walked up towards the stairs. After successfully climbing them, I looked around. Nothing was there. I scowled, looking around once more. I found a box that had tipped over, and another that was teetering, hitting the side every so often. We had stacked these boxes well, so there was no way that that could’ve happened over night. No, something had to have tipped them over on purpose. Boxes don’t just fall, little boys don’t just run out into streets, mirrors don’t just move in the middle of the night, and doors don’t just slam! I glowered once again. We may have an unwanted guest in the house. I was always into the ghost stories they played on TV, and never thought that I would ever be living in a ghost-infested house until now. That explained the things that happened in the house, but what about my brother? What had happened to him? Something spooked him, I know that’s for sure. I just need to find out what. I stepped back out of the attic, going over towards my bedroom. Last night, I had acquired Matt’s number. He told me if I ever needed help, that he was just a phone call away, I just hoped he was up. I picked up the phone, putting in the digits, as the phone rang three times, before he picked it up. “Hello?” “It’s me, Sarah. I was wondering; can you come over for a while?” “Yeah, sure, just let me get dressed and I'll be right over.” “Thanks.” I hung up the phone, setting it back down by my bed side. I was extremely happy that he could come over and help me with this. He had said that he lived in this town as far back as he could remember, and had access to the old articles in the newspaper office. Well, he had been the photographer for the newspaper at one point, so they still let him in. Photography was just a hobby for him, now. I quickly guided my thoughts to getting possible records on this old house. I knew there was something up. Maybe the house burned down, or maybe it was built on a burial site. Whatever it was, I had to get some information on it! I heard a knock on the door, racing down to get it. Once I opened it, I saw Matt’s dirt brown eyes, and that wicked grin he held. He was leaning ever so slightly on the door frame, leaning down to me. “What is it you needed? Some company, a boyfriend?” He winked at me. “No! You’re just a hopeless flirt, aren't you?” I made a playful scowl, looking past him to his car. “I need records on this place. I think it may be haunted by ghosts.” He laughed at me. “Well then, do you have everything you need, princess?” He emphasized the word ‘princess’ as another one of those smirks came into play. “Yes, I do. And please don’t call me that, or any other weird pet name.” He sighed, looking around, “Fine, let’s go then.” I walked off the steps, change jingling in my pockets. Matt went around to my side, opening up my door, “Are you sure you don’t want to take up my boyfriend offer?” I slammed the door in his face, hearing him mutter something by the like of ‘picky, picky…’ under his breath. I simply giggled. I could get used to this guy. The hours we spent were countless, looking through book after book, online article after online article, archive after archive, nothing showed up though. I couldn't wrap my finger around it though. This made no sense. There should've been at least something on this house, seeing as how we found much information on all of the other houses in the area. “I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back!” He announced walking off towards the bathroom. I sat there for a while, as an old woman decided to sit down behind me. “Excuse me, miss, but were you looking for information on that house on Fir Villa drive?” “Yes… I was. How did you know about that?” “No time to talk. Here, just take this.” She scribbled something down on a piece of paper, walking out of the shop as she did. I stuffed it in my pocket, deciding to not tell Matt. She seemed to be avoiding him for some reason, as she had been watching us the whole time. Why had she been watching us, and only come over once Matt was gone? “Man, those bathrooms are clean. I just love the smell of coffee once you walk into a bathroom, don’t you?” I laughed, looking back up at Matt. The rest of the night went as planned; we talked, and talked, and talked. Luckily, I had left a note at home, telling my parents where I would be, if they needed me, and to call my phone if they needed me. My phone never went off once though, so I presumed that they hadn’t needed me. Matt finally drove me home around six-thirty, waving goodbye from his car as he backed out of my driveway. His car raced down the road, went into the small tunnel, and seemingly vanished into the darkness. I walked into the house, smiling at the feel of having a new friend who loves to help me. The weeks went by, as Matt and I searched more. Things started to get creepier, and creepier though. When I got back the first night, I had had dinner, and went straight to bed. I had awoken sometime in the middle of the night, needing to go to the bathroom. I had walked in, and turned to the mirror, as I usually did, since I was in fact a vain person. I always cared about my looks, no matter who was going to see me. I gulped, trying my best not to scream, there behind me was my brothers bloody corpse, hanging from the ceiling. I swallowed all f my bile, his lifeless body just dangling in mid air. I closed my eyes, telling myself not to look, but when I opened them again, he was gone. I looked back to see nothing was there. I went back to my room after that, brushing it off as being 'too tired'. More weird things started happening. One day I woke up and my entire room had be rearranged. Some things lay astray on the floor, and others, where moved from where the were supposed to be. It took me the rest of the day to get my room remade. The next thing was even stranger. Matt and I had just come back from looking around in the library. He was always so chipper, eager, and excited to help me. I walked into my room, to find the words in blood 'Stop looking!' on my wall, which I immediately started screaming about. My parents, and my brother ran into my room, trying to calm me down, but it wasn't working. I kept screaming, and crying, even though it wasn't there anymore. I was starting to think that I was going crazy. My head hurt regularly, and I called Matt often in the middle of the night. Much more happened, from more ghostly figures appearing, and whispers telling me to 'stop looking'. I was starting to think that the place truly was haunted. I will never forget the day I lost everything. Matt and I had just finished, yet again, searching through the last archive in town, with no luck at all. He drove me home, not saying anything on the way. He walked me up to the steps, smiling as he said his goodbyes, and walked back to his car, driving off. I opened the door, and called out to my parents. “Hey! I’m home!” Nobody answered me. I walked around, looking for them. The house was bare, like no one had ever lived there before. I felt a sick feeling as I ran upstairs. My room was completely empty, I ran all through the house, the last place I looked was in the bathroom, where some sort of red liquid was smeared onto the mirror, a phrase that I will never forget to even this day; "I lost everything, now you have too!". I quickly looked around, grabbing the slip of paper that I had stored in my pillow case. On it was a number, which I picked up my phone, and dialed. The phone rang twice, before an automated message started to play. “Hello there, if you’ve found this number I assume you need information on the house you are living in." "This house was built years ago, but burned down due to an accident, the only survivor lost everything, and his name was Matt Bridle. After he lost everything, he committed suicide by sitting in his car, with the engine turned on, and a plastic bag over his head, his car on the train tracks as he was crushed by the train." "If you are living in this house, you are urged to leave immediately, as his ghost still haunts the place, taking away the loved ones that anyone has-“ The phone suddenly died on me, chilling laughter emanating behind me. I turned around to see Matt, only his eyes were rolled back into his head, causing them to be completely white, and blood along with some sort of sticky looking black substance was pouring out of his mouth. “You should’ve left when you had the chance.” His voice wasn’t happy anymore; it was rough, and hoarse. I screamed running as far as I could. He disappeared, and reappeared in front of me, tripping me as he grabbed my ankle. “Awe, come on! Don’t be that way! I’m sure I could use a new friend!” I kicked him in the groin, getting loose for a second. I screamed, hoping the neighbors could hear me. “Shut it!” he hissed, punching my jaw, just about breaking it. My lungs burned, I could barely breath. I had a will to live though, live and tell my story. I kicked him directly in his nose, causing him to howl in pain, as he walked backwards tumbling into the wall. I took the chance to run as fast as I could, up and out the door, down the side of the road, and to the police station. Matt appeared in front of me again, backhanding me as I feel on the cold pavement. He continued to drag me towards the train tracks, laughing violently all the way. I was a crying mess, doing everything in my power to break free. "Matt! Why are you doing this?" "I lost everything, it's only fair that you should too!" He laughed again. I shuttered. How could such a kind guy be so, so, evil? Even if he was a ghost! He was still supposed to be my friend! I kicked him again, as he fell onto the train tracks. The train rushed by, and he was gone. He just disappeared into thin air. It’s been three months since that happened. My family was never found. The people in the town say that they only remember me, yelling at a fictional little boy, telling him to get out from the road. That night, I moved, as far away from the town as possible, not even wanting to remember the horrible things that happened there. I've always tried to tell people about Matt, but no one listened! They all call me crazy, someone even called the cops on me, trying to get me put into an insane asylum. It never worked though. I was left with only my thoughts, as Matt had truly, taken away everything I've ever loved.